When I saw 🐰WhiteRabbit1111🇦🇺 tweet about Derivatives for long term value and cultural significance, I was immediately convinced.
By ‘derivative‘ we do not consider the meaning of this word in finance, but the ‘derivative work’ as a variant (recast, transform, modify, adapt) of another artwork, that is represented in the derivative. Naturally it could be broader with parody, mashup, etc. fuelled by the memetic power that links everyone in digital communities sustaining and growing such cultural values with time.
And 2 images attracted my attention for their historical value as pioneers.
The specific image of the Spells of Geneis (SoG) SATOSHICARD NFT in the game Sarutobi by Mandelduck (my friend Christina Moss) could be considered the 1st derivative image from an NFT, dated from June 2016.
More information in The Legend of SaruTobi and with the 2nd image of EverdreamSoft just launched an NFT History Museum on CryptoVoxels. You can see here the image as displayed in his other game SaruTobi Island:
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The other old one is my Rare Pepe NFT PEPETHESOG of 18th of October 2016 that was a derivative of the SATOSHICARD within the Rare Pepe collection, ideally placed as a link between these 2 iconic collections: Spells of Genesis & Rare Pepe. Here is the ‘making of’:
Summary from my analysis in this post (I am currently reviewing Dogeparty), these 5 Rare Pepe are 1st as NFTs (all in 2016)
NFT partially including another NFT lightly altered:
PEPEROSS S2 C11 from Boost – referencing the 1st Rare Pepe NFT (Nakamato Card)
NFT variant (derivative) of a gaming card (not an NFT)
PHEONIXPEPE S2 C31 – Discussing with Boost, the source image is considered to be Exultant Firebird, Creature Phoenix, Magic the Gathering.
NFT partially including a physical painting
MONALISAPEPE S4 C20 from EverydayEarth
NFT variant (derivative) of a painting
PEPEDUCREUX S5 C6 from EverydayEarth
NFT variant (derivative) of another NFT (which is a gaming card of the 1st mobile blockhain game)
PEPETHESOG S5 C36 from Nicolas Sierro (me)
Select the image and navigate in the bigger image presentation mode to see the animated NFT as GIF!
The SoG NFT GOXCARD of 2015 could have been influenced by this ‘Mount Gox’ card by Thomas Joseph Carrieri’ (see in 2014: San Francisco Art Fair Takes a Creative Look at Bitcoin), but is not a derivative: only the name ‘Mount Gox’ and a mountain in general are the same, but the details of the SoG mountain are different, especially the 2 peaks on each side (which are not on the Magic the Gathering card).
In this other blog post ‘Coins and NFT card images in historical NFTs‘ I consider other aspects to list different NFTs of 2015 & 2016: NFT with images of coins (cryptocurrency, mainly symbol), NFT with images of other NFT (card) but unaltered (not a derivative), etc.
The Rare Pepe spirit to include many creators (artists) was present in other Bitcoin Counterparty collections, initially with Kaleidoscope XCP, Bitcorns, and Mafia Wares. Years later, from 2021 onwards, derivatives were also done for a whole collection, often from the same unique creator. At this period, two Bitcoin Counterparty multi-creators colection started with the words ‘fake’ and ‘faux’ in the title, focused on derivatives
[Update 22.01.2026] And a 3rd one from 2026: FauxBitcorn.
My contribution was a double fake or double derivative as Fake rare : PEPETHEPOG (25th December 2021):
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And to illustrate the power of derivatives from the 1st Rare Pepe NFT = the Nakamato Card, visit the Nakamato Tribute Museum ‘Morrow (Building 8)’ of 528 pieces from 201 artists in voxel.com:
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